Writers’ Guidelines

The Geez project is a discussion among people of faith seeking social justice. Our readers and writers express this through art, activism, contemplation and a “more-grounded, inter-connected” approach to living.

What is “activism” for us? It is a creative critique of those in power and the structures that keep them there. This includes the promotion and embodiment of alternative practices that subvert the structures of power. In case you’re wondering, these problematic structures include things like patriarchy, racism, wealth concentration, police brutality, education for corporate success and global disparity.

Advice

Geez has both theme-related material and several departments (see below). Keep pitches brief, write the way you speak, tell us why your idea or story is important, indicate sources you plan to use and say something about why you are qualified to write this piece. If you already have a completed manuscript, poem, photo or design, feel free to submit it as well.

Experience in biking in traffic, inner-city gardening, peacefully dodging bullets in war zones and repeated efforts at contemplation are more important than whether or not you have been published before.

Preference given to: solid writing, the unchurched or outchurched, disparity, people with dirt under their fingernails (literally), atheist grandmothers, small-town skateboarders, corporate defectors and feminist parents.

Audience

Write as though your audience will include:

disgruntled children of hook-line-sinker conservative Christians

spirited activists

over-churched souls (who still believe the world needs some soulful change)

people who haven’t darkened a church door in years but can’t help but get drawn into the discussion of faith

those who feel an irresistible urge to downshift their lives

Cautions

Geez does not assume a church insider audience. If you’re Christian, only send your piece if your sharpest non-churched friend likes it. If your point can only be made using overtly churchy language, try again or send your article elsewhere.

Geez is an affront to hip Christianity. We’re not about cooling down faith so it is palatable for consumers of pop-culture. Geez is a wristband-free (unless the campaign is problematized as well), WWJD-free zone. (If you don’t know what WWJD stands for, you pass. Proceed safely to the next point.)

Ranting is important, but we don’t want to get bogged down in bitterness. We want to move beyond the raw rant to the holy mischief, on-the-ground change and visions for the future.

Departments

A good way to start writing for Geez magazine is with a piece in one of our departments. Send original stories or ideas for any of these:

News

Geez looks for under-reported stories on topics such as workers’ struggles, poverty alleviation, affluence reduction, nature preservation, Aboriginal issues, peacemaking, race relations, media concentration or independence, science and techno absurdities, queer issues, feminism, boundary crossing and the spiritual in everything. In most cases, but not all, there will be a connection — direct or implied — to a gospel of social justice. This could include the work of a religious group. Or your story could point to the neglect or misconduct done by churches and others. Length: 50-500 words

Experiments

In this section we throw the spotlight on the actors and activists in the Geez community of readers. Look for personal stories of people putting words into action. Grand experiments are welcome (I bought nothing for a year), but a well-told mini-experiment is welcome too (I stopped to help a homeless woman crush her pop tins). There does not have to be an overt reference to faith, although of course that is welcome. Length: 50-500 words

Civil Disobedience

In this section we highlight social justice activism, especially civil disobedience (activism that intentionally breaks the law). At best, we cover under-reported stories of interest to activist-inclined Christians. Length: 50-500 words

Poetry

We generally do not print unsolicited poetry, but we will read and consider poems that come our way. Send no more than two samples please, to poetry [at] geezmagazine [dot] org.

Photos

Pay

We’re non-profit but we do provide modest honorariums to contributors (especially those who depend on income from writing). We’re working toward paying contributors (and maybe even ourselves) reasonable rates once we’re more firmly established.

Logistics

Responses

Ideally we would like to respond personally to every piece of correspondence we receive. But given the number of submissions we receive — and having tried to respond to all — we realize it is just not possible. We will try to respond to as many as possible but if you do not hear back from us within six weeks assume that we were unable to use your submission.